25 Essential Bear Market Stock Tips For Investors

Last week the stock market free fell more than 18% as investors tried to navigate a bear market that has ripped through not only the US but the whole world. What are investors supposed to do?

Pros like World Record Holder Dan Zanger advise moving to mostly if not all cash and simply waiting out the storm. Other pros like Warren Buffett recommend investing for the long term and rolling with the market punches.

With many ideas available for investors today, I have created a list of 25 tips to refer to during a bear market. Not all tips may be relevant to your portfolio but hopefully they will offer some fresh ideas, starting with..

Don’t trust ratings systems. In a bear market every technical indicator or trade signal is free game for failure.

Consider lowering the overall risk of your retirement accounts by moving into more conservative funds.

Temporarily stop automatic investments into mutual funds.

For any new positions on the buy side, use tight stop losses of 2 – 4% max vs a 7 or 8% standard during a regular market.

Don’t buy into analyst recommendations.

If day trading, take any profits quickly.

For bigger single day market moves of 5% or greater, consider the opportunity to move your portfolio into more cash by selling bad positions.

Larger defensive stocks with a high yield historically weather the storm much better than growth stocks and the like.

Consider buying ETFs that are short the overall market, QID for example. View a full list of 40 great short ETFs.

Don’t play the, “I have a feeling the market is done selling” game and try to catch the bottom.

Remove any margined positions.

Don’t buy any more positions on margin.

Three heavy distribution days in a row for the market means go away. Unfortunately if you are reading this post then you may have already missed this opportunity to get out.

Three consecutive heavy accumulation days during a bear market means test the water with extreme caution, don’t jump right in.

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